Rain, rain, go away, Come again another day!

Seriously, I’m thinking of investing in some gills and fins. I don’t think we have enough time left to wait for evolution to catch up with the weather. Then again, this time last year we were ice locked and wondering if we were going back into a polar ice age! I must admit I would rather have the cold than the wet but the allotment seems to be coping with the rain ok.

        I decided to go and have a bimble around the allotment this morning to see what was happening and to do some tidying up. The first job when I got down there was to weed and turn over the soil at the end of the fruit bush bed. This is so that at the weekend we can transplant the gooseberry bushes so that they’re not blocked out by the jostaberry bush. As great as the josta is, it does tend to block out everything below it when it gets into leaf. It will also make it easier to harvest both the gooseberry and the jostaberry later in the year. Last year’s crop of goosegogs was good but I’m hoping this year’s will be even better now that the bushes are established, especially from the hinnomaki (red).

        After that it was down to some long overdue weeding. After a quick tidy up around the currant bushes, which weren’t too bad to be honest, it was time to move on to the main event – kale, leeks and parsnips.

        This was a job that we had been putting off for a while. I figured today was a good day to do the weeding as the ground was soft. Two buckets of weeds, a pair of very wet knees and a couple of mud caked hands later and the job was done. It was with immense satisfaction that I stood back, in the pouring rain (again), and surveyed the result of my labours.

        This means that at the weekend the only real weeding that will be left to do will be the onions and garlic (as promised, they will be receiving lots of extra love and attention). The additional bonus to doing the weeding now is that we don’t have to spend all Saturday morning listening to the incessant drone of the Moody Teen complaining about having to spend time on the allotment! A win, win situation all round!

The final thing I did before coming home was to have a quick check on the broad beans. They’re approximately 2 – 4” tall now and seem quite strong. Another few weeks and we may have to dispense with the cloches as they will be too tall to be covered!

Happy Gardening!